On the evening of May 28, Beijing time, the 2023 World Table Tennis Championships in Durban, South Africa ushered in the men's singles final, which is a national table tennis civil war, Fan Zhendong against Wang Chuqin. After six games, Fan Zhendong defeated Wang Chuqin 4-2 to defend the World Table Tennis Championships men's singles championship, with scores of 8-11, 11-9, 11-7, 12-10, 11-13 and 11-3.
The 26-year-old Fan Zhendong is ranked first in the world, and he is also the top seed and defending champion of this World Table Tennis Championships. In the semifinals, Fan Zhendong eliminated teammate Liang Jingkun. The 23-year-old Wang Chuqin, ranked second in the world and the second seed in this year's World Table Tennis Championships, defeated his teammate Ma Long in the semifinals. Yesterday, Fan Zhendong and Wang Chuqin partnered to win the men's doubles championship, and Wang Chuqin also partnered with Sun Yingsha to win the mixed doubles title. If Wang Chuqin wins today's competition, he will win three championships in this World Table Tennis Championships. The two have met 9 times in history, with Fan Zhendong winning 7 and Wang Chuqin winning 2.
The first game opened with a tight score, tied 4-4, and then Wang Chuqin scored three consecutive points to widen the gap. After a wonderful offensive and defensive conversion, Fan Zhendong chased 6-7. Then Wang Chuqin scored two more points, and Fan Zhendong still tried to chase the points. With Fan Zhendong's return ball, Wang Chuqin won the set point 10-7 and won the first set 11-8, leading 1-0.
In the second game, the first goal was a wonderful match, Fan Zhendong scored first, and the two sides drew 3-3 in the opening game. The two sides then alternated scores and tied 5-5. After a one-goal multi-shot tie, Wang Chuqin took a 7-5 lead. But Fan stubbornly chased the score to 8-8. Next, the two sides drew 9-9, and Fan Zhendong resisted the opponent's counter-pull at the crucial moment to win the set point 10-9. On the next goal, Fan Zhendong scored on multiple shots to win the second set 11-9, and the two sides drew 1-1.
In the third game, the two sides drew 3-3 and 4-4 in the opening game, and entering the middle game, Fan Zhendong scored two consecutive points to lead 7-5. Wang Chuqin then pulled two points back on Fan Zhendong's serve, bringing the score to 7-7. At the end of the game, Fan Zhendong scored three consecutive points to win the game point 10-7. On the next goal, Fan Zhendong's wonderful Yuantai duel scored another point to win the third game 11-7, leading Wang Chuqin 2-1.
In the fourth game, Wang Chuqin scored after a wonderful long-range standoff in the opening period, and the two sides went from 1-1 to 6-6. In this round, the state of both of them opened, and they played wonderful multi-shot pairs many times. After 6-6, Fan Zhendong scored three consecutive points, and the score became 9-6. Trailing Wang Chuqin, he struggled to catch up with 8-9, and Fan Zhendong called a timeout. Coming back from a timeout, Wang Chuqin chased another goal to bring the score to 9-9. Fan Zhendong scored the game with another ball, and Wang Chuqin withstood the pressure to make it 10-10. At the crucial moment, Fan Zhendong scored two consecutive points to win the fourth game 12-10, leading Wang Chuqin 3-1.
In the fifth game, Fan Zhendong continued his good form and took a 5-1 lead in the opening game, and the stunned Wang Chuqin called a timeout. Pause back. Fan Zhendong continued to score and widened the gap to 7-1. At this time, Wang Chuqin recovered one point, but Fan Zhendong brilliantly moved the landing point to pull another point. Wang Chuqin tried to close the score, but Fan Zhendong still won the championship point 10-5. Wang then saved five championship points, magically chased it to a 10-10 draw, and scored another point to reverse the score 11-10. On the next goal, the two sides played multiple matches, and Fan Zhendong tied the score. In a suffocating moment, Wang Chuqin scored two consecutive points to win the game with a shocking 13-11 comeback, trailing 2-3.
In the sixth game, Fan Zhendong played aggressively and took a 7-1 lead in the opening game, which seemed to be a copy of the previous game. At this time, Fan Zhendong returned the ball to the net, and Wang Chuqin won 2-7. After Wang Chuqin made a mistake in returning the ball, Fan Zhendong won the championship points again 10-2 and held 8 championship points. Wang Chuqin saved a championship point, but this time he was unable to return to the sky. In the end, Fan Zhendong won the game 11-3 and defeated Wang Chuqin 4-2 to defend the men's singles championship of the World Table Tennis Championships.